bottles and flasks, Browns fans advanced up West Third, Ontario, and East Ninth to Municipal Stadium, a cavernous, double-decked stadium perched on Lake Erie and known for its size and utility rather than any architectural distinction. Red, white, and blue bunting, emblematic of a title game, draped the stadium. The east end zone had bleacher seats and lacked an upper deck. Winds howling from the lake entered the stadium and swirled inside. Of course, the game was a sellout. Though on game day standing-room tickets could still be bought, over 78,000 tickets had been sold. Baltimore fans bought 9,000 tickets. The Colts Marching Band traveled in older coach buses to Cleveland. In the west end zone, one audacious Colt fan, wearing a raccoon coat and a derby hat, paraded a sign that read "Colts 49 Browns 0." To watch on television a blacked-out game, thousands of Browns fans drove to motels in cities at least 75 miles from Cleveland like Toledo and Erie.

To the delight of CBS, which was broadcasting its first NFL title game, and the NFL, whose sport was now challenging baseball as the nation’s most popular, this championship game offered the league’s two best offenses and the sport’s two biggest stars—Baltimore quarterback Johnny Unitas and Cleveland fullback Jim Brown. In the 1958 NFL championshipC hampionship, Unitas became a football legend. He coupled daring play selection and physical toughness with a sense of theater that defined his position—the unflinching field general who willed improbable comeback wins in the cold and the rain, as later dramatized by NFL Films with its stirring words and swelling music. In 1964, Unitas passed for 2,824 yards with 19 touchdowns and only six interceptions, leading Baltimore to its best record ever and its third Western Conference championship. For the second time, Unitas won the NFL’s highest individual honor—Most Valuable Player.

CLICK HERE TO BUY NOW